Date:         Thu, 13 Sep 2012 19:01:36 -0700
Reply-To:     mark drillock <mdrillock@COX.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         mark drillock <mdrillock@COX.NET>
Subject:      Re: [Diesel-Vanagon] Re: Oil temp gauges,
              choices? Using water temp sender + gauge?
In-Reply-To:  <BAY152-ds156CCC1EA430FAE09CD78A0900@phx.gbl>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

I mostly agree. Mixing a generic VDO gauge with another brand sender
made for a specific vehicle isn't the way to go.

For fun I just now tested 3 VDO temp gauges and senders I have on hand.
I used a 12 volt battery and a pot of boiling water, at sea level.

The first was a new VDO aftermarket water temp gauge 0-250 F. It was
paired with the aftermarket VDO brand temp sender of the matching range,
sold to me at the same time as I purchased the gauge.
With the sender in rapidly boiling water the gauge read almost exactly
between the marks for 200 and 225 F. A whisker higher than the midpoint,
maybe 215 F? Pretty good I'd say.

Next I grabbed a used VW car oil temp gauge made by VDO and the VW
sender I pulled from the same car when I pulled the gauge. Both are
marked 0-150 C. The sender has the same part number marked on it as the
one you linked to from TBD.
With the sender in rapidly boiling water the gauge read almost exactly
at the 100 C mark, just a whisker below, 98/99? Pretty good again.
Especially for parts pulled from a 25 year old car, with date codes on
the parts indicating they are really that old.

The third set didn't act right. This used 150 C VW car oil temp gauge
read very low when paired with the VDO sender I had it stored with. I
then connected up the sender from the other VW VDO setup and the gauge
now read correctly, near 100 C. Then I got out the magnifying glass and
looked more closely at the odd reading sender. It said 180 C on it, so
no reason to expect it should work right with a 0-150 C gauge. The VW
part number on it had a B suffix, rather than the A of the 150 C sender.
The rest of the number was the same.

I wanted to test some more but my wife was headed home and used car
parts are not welcomed in the kitchen when she is there too.

Mark



Dennis Haynes wrote:
> In dash gauges are not high precision devices. I have found that the for the
> VDO gauges the senders for the aftermarket gauges often do not match what is
> used for OEM gauges. Get the correct sender that would be sold with/for the
> gauge you are using.
>
>